Polygraph test

[leighsmithfluk]

Hi everyone my name is leigh, i am a 19 year old englishman now living in sarasota florida, i am extremely interested in becoming a police officer as it is something i have always wanted to do, currently i am attending a community college to get my associates degree, killing time before i turn 21. However i am absolutely curious as to what type of questions an agency would as an aspiring police officer on a Polygraph test, any insight from anyone?
cheers
leigh Smith

[Dan]

from a leo i know

they start out with questions like is are you your name, mothers name, were you born on your birthday ect..... then ?s like have you ever done drugs, commited any crimes.. ect.

[Mike5166]

No polygraph here. All we had was one 3 hour written test, followed by a oral test in front of a panel, followed by a oral interview followed by another panel, followed by a 5 hour psych test (Appitude, MMPI, CPI, then drilled by two shrinks), followed by a medical exam and blood test, followed by a physical ability test...and that's it. No polygraph....

[leighsmithfluk]

yeah, wow thats crazy, BUT I CANT WAIT!
on the subject of the POLY though how specific do they get and such, i would just like to be prepared as the thought of a polygraph test makes me nervous....lol
Anything else that you think is worth knowing about the process of becoming a police officer?
cheers
leigh

[sbrad]

Originally posted by leighsmithfluk
yeah, wow thats crazy, BUT I CANT WAIT!
on the subject of the POLY though how specific do they get and such, i would just like to be prepared as the thought of a polygraph test makes me nervous....lol
Anything else that you think is worth knowing about the process of becoming a police officer?
cheers
leigh

Don't prepare. It makes you think too much.

[leighsmithfluk]

good point, i actually considered that also...i guess its a true point too mate.
thanks for the input.

[yangnome]

Focusing no teh questions too much in advance will make you show a more nervous response. You are better off waiting until you take the test. They will tell you the questions up front before the test to give you a little time to worry abou tit anyway. With the poly I took for LE, I had to take a pre test questionaire with a couple hundred questions on it related to my background and such (this was seperate though alot of similar questions to my actual background investigation). the chose any pertinent questions from that.


The most important thing is that you are upfront with all your info fromteh start of the process. You don't want to come into the polygraph worried about stuff you hid on your background and decide to admit to more things than you already have. That shows you've been dishonest with them. If you are upfront about everything from day one, you should have no worries.

[hawkman]

I was asked if I had any sexual relations with animals on my polygraph.

That was the odd ball of the bunch, the rest were tipical, your name is, your last name, middle name, lied under oath? masterbated on duty? participated in criminal activities? smoked marijuana? stuff like that.

Said yes to most, so I didn't lie... and I passed :D

j/k on saying yes to most ;) But I did pass :D From what they told me, murder is the only disqualifier even if truthfull. Although I'm sure others will do it too since it was also an integrity test. But for the most part, they are looking for honesty as they want to only hire the most honest people they can.

[George Maschke]

Leigh,

The dirty little secret behind the polygraph is that the "test" depends on trickery, not science. The polygraph operator exhorts the examinee to answer all questions truthfully, but secretly assumes that denials to certain questions -- called "control" questions -- will be less than truthful. One commonly used control question is, "Did you ever lie to get out of trouble?" The polygrapher steers the examinee into a denial, warning that anyone who would lie to get out of trouble is fundamentally untrustworthy. But secretly, it is assumed that everyone -- even those the department would like to hire -- has lied to get out of trouble.

The test is scored by comparing physiological reactions to these probable-lie control questions with reactions to relevant (e.g., "Did you do it?") questions. If reactions to the "control" questions are greater, the examinee passes; if reactions to the relevant questions are greater, he/she fails. This simplistic methodology has no grounding in the scientific method and results in many innocent people being wrongly branded as liars.

Polygraph tests also include irrelevant questions like "Is today Friday?" The polygrapher falsely explains that such questions provide a "baseline for truth," because the truth of the examinee's answers will be obvious. But in reality, irrelevant questions are not scored at all and merely serve as buffers between sets of relevant and control questions.

The test is inherently biased against the truthful, because the more candidly one answers the "control" questions, and as a consequence experiences less stress when answering them, the more likely one is to fail.

On the other hand, liars who understand the trickery behind the "test" can beat it by covertly augmenting their physiological reactions to the control questions. This can be done by constricting the anal sphincter muscle, biting the side of the tongue, or merely thinking exciting thoughts. Although polygraphers frequently claim they can detect such countermeasures, no polygrapher has ever demonstrated any ability to do so, and peer-reviewed research suggests that they can't.

For further details about polygraph testing, download The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (1 mb PDF).

[Lfpdlieu302]

dang it!! i didnt have a chance to stop him!

as far as the poly goes, dont sweat it too much. just tell the truth. answer the questions and you should be just fine. (so long as there is nothing that you have done that would disqualify you anyway)

[Stump]

LOL Lieu, I was thinking the EXACT same thing!!!

My suggestion is the same as sbrad's. Don't think about it too much... don't read the anti-poly sites... all they are doing are asking you questions which require a yes or no answer. And you WILL be able to justify your answers if they are not black and white.

[Jynkxxie]

Originally posted by hawkman
I was asked if I had....


masterbated on duty?

WOW! What is this Super Troopers?

[Jcrazy]

Both that I have had took several hours. Fist they go over every thing that you have ever done wrong in your life no matter haow trivial. Then they formulate questions based on what you told them. You will know what the questions are befor you are hooked to the box. Just be honest and you will do fine.

[KrisSAU]

George Mashke is all over every friggin police site I go to! He has been banned at most of them. He's only around to spam and it's rather annoying to see him throwing around his pity party site. George, you can get your point across without the spamming your site, writings, etc. Just my two cents.

[Stump]

Kris, just put him on "ignore". The only thing he comments on is his anti-polygraph stance. He is incapable of seeing the other side, and basically cut/pastes his responses in anytime someone mentions the word "poly".